How Cloud technology is changing the face of buy side implementations

The Industry is currently abuzz with talk of the Cloud technology as more and more firms adopt hosted solutions as part of their core operational strategy. While many of us are familiar with the benefits of hosting from a daily operational standpoint, the industry movement towards hosted third-party systems is also transforming the traditional implementation process. When compared to the implementation efforts required with traditional client-server applications, the implementations of web-based applications delivered in a hosted environment offer some significant advantages.

At ClearStructure we began offering our portfolio management system, Sentry PM, as a fully hosted application in 2005. At that time there were much stiffer headwinds when trying to convince prospects of the benefits of a hosted solution. However, since our initial entrance into the space we have witnessed the seismic shift in attitude towards hosted solutions that has occurred in the industry.

Since our initial hosting offering we’ve had ample opportunity to see first hand the benefits offered by implementing a hosted solution and why more clients are moving in this direction. While several factors are driving the adoption, decreased implementation time and costs are core among these factors. These benefits can be attributed to two factors: (1) elimination of direct and indirect costs associated with hardware and (2) benefits made possible via new technology.

No Hardware Headaches

Typical onsite server implementations require costly hardware to purchase, install and configure. How many traditional implementations are stalled waiting for the internal hardware acquisitions process to run their course or dealing with other network issues? Our Sentry PM Cloud solution significantly reduces the effort and resources required as we handle the entire software installation.

The managed hosting service ClearStructure offers is powered by Rackspace with dedicated servers for our clients’ production environments. Inclusive hardware upgrades and disaster recovery (DR) means less IT involvement; while world-class infrastructure and lower risks are also a key benefit as the service is backed by a 100% network uptime guarantee.

Fewer Resources Required = Lower Costs

A large part of traditional implementations included sending a small army of technical and product resources onsite to help install and configure  software. This included a group to help with the hardware installation and a team of people to work on requirement gathering and system configuration. For pure web-applications, such as Sentry PM, the process is much simpler. While requirements gathering and face-to-face interaction is still fundamental to a project’s success, there is no longer a need to place full time resources onsite for months (or sometimes years!).

Stay Competitive

Traditionally the ongoing support and maintenance of software may cause more headaches than the initial implementation. Software is one of those investments where the maintenance to capital ratio can be very high. There are too many e

xamples where users miss out on new features and bug fixes because their firm has weighed up the benefits versus the cost and operational risks of  a software upgrade; including hardware upgrades, potential conflicts with other systems and the resources to execute lengthy test and implementation project plans. As a result upgrades are seen as something to avoid and are sometimes years in passing.

Your firm will never have to implement software upgrades, pay for maintenance or add hardware for a mission critical system when you opt for Sentry PM. All upgrades are included in our annual subscription fee and and are implemented without interrupting your business. The net effect is to maintain a lower total cost of ownership and allow users to benefit from the new features in the software that keep up with the rapid changes in the market and allow you to stay competitive.

With over fifteen years of experience in the financial sector, we understand how technology can help finance professionals, and we work closely with our clients to explore ideas that become solutions. Our clients choose Sentry systems because we are committed to providing them with financial systems that keep pace with technology and the markets. That’s why the world’s leading  portfolio managers, investment analysts, risk professionals and operations teams trust Sentry to meet their demands and bring transparency and automation to their investment management process. So can you.

Find out why. Contact us today.